Voters still strongly favor consumer choice when it comes to health insurance

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The Daily Ardmoreite

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Posted Jul. 2, 2014 at 11:00 AM

Posted Jul. 2, 2014 at 11:00 AM

Attitudes toward the new national health care law are largely unchanged this week, with just over half of voters still viewing it unfavorably and support for individual choice when buying health insurance remaining high.

The latest national telephone survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters finds that 44 percent share a favorable opinion of the health care law, including 19 percent with a very favorable opinion. While 51 percent view it unfavorably and 38 percent have a very unfavorable view.

Most voters have had an unfavorable opinion of the law in weekly surveys since the beginning of last year. Favorables have ranged from 39 percent to 45 percent during that period, while unfavorables have run as high as 58 percent.

Forty-three percent believe the government should require every health insurance company and plan to cover the exact same set of medical procedures. That’s down one point from 44 percent in May, which marked the highest level of support since regular tracking began in January 2013. Thirty-five percent still oppose government-mandated levels of care, consistent with surveying for much of this year. Twenty-two percent are undecided.

With most voters convinced that the cost of health care will go up under Obamacare, it’s not surprising to find that 69 percent of voters still believe individuals should have the right to choose between different types of health insurance, including some that cost more and cover just about all medical procedures and some that cost less while covering only major medical procedures. Sixteen percent disagree, while just as many (15%) are not sure.

Eighty-three percent say individuals should have the right to choose between different types of health insurance, including some with higher deductibles and lower premiums and others with lower deductibles and higher premiums. Only seven percent oppose this kind of choice.

Support for this kind of health insurance choice has changed little in surveys for the last year-and-a-half.